The Stranger Beside Me

by Simone Holloway

  “Shady how? Like, corporate stuff?” Jo was thinking of Wall Street: insider trading, backroom deals, white collar crime.

  “Like running guns, cleaning up the messes of powerful people, and about a dozen other operations I wasn’t privy to.”

  Jo swallowed hard. How could she be involved in this? She couldn’t imagine being a part of some sort of gang or criminal family. But if John was to be believed she was in the middle of it.

  “I was hired to… take care of a problem.” John shifted beside her. He began to rub his hands together, a nervous gesture. “That’s when I met you. You were a kind of liaison.

  You got me what I needed: money, transportation, weapons.”

  He paused meaningfully. Jo thought he was waiting for her to respond, but she was speechless. John’s description of her past sounded completely foreign to her. She couldn’t remember anything of her life before waking beside the lake.

  She’d believed she was a victim, perhaps of some random act of violence. The story John was telling painted a picture of a woman in the midst of a dangerous situation. What if she had instigated the chain of events that led to her injury and amnesia? The thought made her head hurt. She had obviously been involved in something she shouldn’t have, but she refused to believe she had this coming. Someone had betrayed her.

  She looked up at John, but his face remained cloaked in shadow. Who was he really? She had no reason to trust him, except for a desperate desire to trust someone.

  “Go on,” she said. “I want to know how I ended up beside the lake.”

  “It’s… let me go back. You and I became…close.”

  It was obvious by his tone that he meant more than just friends. Jo remained silent and still. She didn’t want to give any more of herself away to this man.

  Quietly, her mind reeled. She imagined tracing the outline of his jaw and cheekbones.

  What did he look like naked? He had a nice body; she couldn’t help undressing him with her mind.

  Jo saw a flash of a faceless man. His hard body pressed against her naked flesh. Was this John, or the other man from her memory?

  “Are you a soldier?” she suddenly asked. She wasn’t sure where the question had come from.

  John leaned in close to her. His face was suddenly illuminated by moonlight. His eyes were clear and concerned; his jaw tight. He didn’t look like a dangerous man, just deeply troubled.

  “Why do you ask that?” he said. “Do you remember something? Did someone tell you that?”

  His words came quickly. Jo’s question had struck a nerve.

  “What does it matter? Are you or aren’t you?”

  “Yes-no…I was.” He took a breath. “That’s not important now.”

  The way he wanted to move on from the topic made Jo think it was of the utmost importance, but she didn’t press him. She wanted to know how she ended up by the lake.

  “So we meet, I hook you up with… whatever it was you needed. Then what?”

  “I was supposed to kill someone, but there were complications with my assignment.”

  Jo feared he would same something like this. She didn’t want to believe she could play a part in such a thing and yet, here she was.

  She tried to imagine killing someone and couldn’t. Was there some dark part of her, now forgotten, that was capable of murder? No, she thought with a strange conviction, not murder, survival.

  “One night,” John continued, “we had a few drinks and one thing led to another…”

  This turn of the story made Jo uncomfortable. “So we had a one night stand. What happened next?”

  “It wasn’t just a one night stand. We were…”

  Jo’s heart raced. Her skin felt electric. She instantly knew she’d felt his hands on her body before. It was as if some physical memory of the moment was held by her body.

  “Anyway,” John continued, “things moved quickly. I don’t know how deep in you were with the people you worked for, but they obviously decided to start cleaning house.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Obviously, you know something they don’t want anyone else to know about. Something that could be very dangerous to their operation.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Jo put her head in her hands. It was too much to process all at once. John put his hand on her back and rubbed gently. She began to softly cry.

  When he wrapped his arms around her, she tried to pull away. She knew it was wrong.

  She had to stay focused if she was going to find the truth and stay alive. This was not a complication she needed, but her body resisted what her mind knew.

  She pressed her face into his chest and let him hold her. He ran his hands through her hair. They stayed that way for a while, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

  “You were a hit man,” Jo blurted out.

  “I took care of complications… I never hurt innocent people.”

  Jo didn’t find this comforting.

  “I’m going to get some sleep. We still have a lot to talk about, but I can’t handle anymore right now.”

  “That’s a good idea. In the morning we can talk about where to go from here.”

  Jo turned to leave and stopped. “John, was I… did I have a boyfriend? Or a husband?”

  “No, why?”

  “Nothing.”

  Jo made her way up the stairs to a vacant room. She closed the door and locked it behind her. The man she remembered waking up in bed with must be an old boyfriend, she thought.

  She threw herself down on the bed and closed her eyes.

  “It figures the one thing I remember would end up being totally useless,” she said out loud to the empty room. It wasn’t until it was too late that she realized how wrong she was.

  ~

  The morning light was harsh. Jo sat up, opened her eyes and immediately laid back down, pulling the covers over her head. She rubbed her stiff neck and shoulders.

  Without thinking she rolled over and reached for a warm body to cuddle with. When she found the bed beside her empty she sat up with a start. It took her a minute to find her bearings, but as she began to remember the events since waking by the lake a strange thought struck her: where is he?

  She felt confused. The bed felt empty, but who was she longing for? John, or the mystery man from her memory?

  Jo stretched out and stared at the ceiling. Shadows danced across the room, shapeless and formless.

  She’d hoped she’d wake this morning to find her memories had returned. Instead, she had more questions than answers.

  Jo forced her sore body out of bed and walked down the hall to the bathroom. She saw no sign of John as she stepped into the shower. When the hot water hit her a sharp pain shot through her head. A blinding white flash of light brought her to her knees.

  Suddenly, she was submerged in darkness. She was curled on her side, unable to stretch out. For a heart-stopping second, she thought she was buried underground in a coffin. She reached out and felt around her. The space was small, but bigger than a casket. The floor beneath her was made of carpet and the roof and sides of metal.

  It was pitch black and stifling hot. Where was she? She wondered. She began to hit the metal walls around her and cry for help. Her lungs burned as she struggled to breathe.

  She pounded on the walls until her hands were sore, but no help came.

  Suddenly, she felt movement. The box containing her was being carried somewhere. No, she realized, not carried, driven. She was in the trunk of a car.

  This realization made her panic. She screamed until her throat was raw. She kicked and punched the inside of the trunk. All to no avail.

  The car began to sway back and forth. Then, she was falling. Her body flew up, slamming into the top of the trunk. Suddenly, she was surrounded by light. The trunk opened long enough for her to be blinded by daylight.

  She had time for a single breath before being submerged in icy cold lake water. Jo
squeezed her eyes shut tightly and held her breath. The water turned from cold, to pleasantly warm. She felt hands on her shoulder and back. A voice called to her from a distance.

  “Breathe,” the man shouted.

  But she knew if she took a breath she would drowned. Her lungs cried out for air; she couldn’t hold her breath any longer. Finally, she relented. I’m going to die, she thought.

  But to her surprise she breathed easily.

  Jo opened her eyes. She was back in the shower. John was shaking her, trying to get her to come back from wherever she had gone away to.

  “Look at me,” he said. “You’re safe. You’re here with me.”

  Jo wrapped her arms around his neck. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I heard you shouting for help.”

  Despite the warm water, Jo was shaking. John turned it off and held her close. He wrapped a towel around her and began to dry her off.

  “I think, it was a memory,” she said.

  John didn’t respond. A large robe hung from the door. He pulled it down and dressed her in it.

  “It’s still early,” he said. “I want you to get some more sleep before we leave.”

  He led her back to her room, pulled back the covers on the bed and helped her lay down.

  “Wait,” she said.

  The last thing she wanted was to be alone. The hot dark trunk and the icy lake water frightened her. She felt as if she’d woken from a nightmare to find that it was real.

  “Lay down with me,” she said. “Please?”

  “Of course.”

  He slid onto the bed beside her. He wore only a t-shirt and his boxers. She laid her head on his chest and wrapped her legs around his. She was struck by déjà vu. She had no memory of John prior to this but she instinctively knew they’d been intimate before.

  Protectively, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and drew her in close. His strong arms and warm skin were comforting.

  Jo closed her eyes and moaned.

  John kissed her forehead and ran his fingers up and down her arm. Jo felt something stir deep inside her. An overpowering desire to have this man take her now made her move in closer to him.

  When he kissed her forehead again, Jo looked up into his eyes. She moved her lips towards his, then waited for him to make the next move. He hesitated. Not for the first time, Jo wondered what he was thinking. He’d said they’d been intimate before. Surely, he wouldn’t hesitate to be intimate with her again?

  Jo pressed her lips to his lightly, then pulled away. She tried to remember the feeling, but her mind was blank. When his soft lips met her, the sensation felt entirely new.

  “Jo…” he whispered.

  She didn’t wait to hear the rest of what he had to say. She kissed him deeply. He ran his fingers through her hair, twisting the long red strands in knots. She pulled away from him, teasingly. She wanted him to take her. This time he didn’t hesitate.

  John drew her face close to his and kissed her hard. Jo felt his tongue brush across her mouth. She bit his lower lip playfully.

  He rolled on top of her. The weight of his body was instantly familiar and new at the same time.

  Jo pulled his shirt over his head and was greeted by thick muscles and lightly tanned skin.

  She ran her hands through his chest hair and down his abs. On his right side, a long scar cut across his waist and continued down his back. Jo traced it with her finger. She couldn’t imagine the sort of injury that would leave such a severe wound. He looked as if he’d nearly been cut in two.

  John took her hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed her fingertips sweetly, then pressed her hand against the bed. His fingers interlocked with hers as he began to kiss her lips again.

  Jo quickly forgot the strange scars. She felt her robe fall loose as John untied it. She lay beneath him completely exposed. He’d seen her naked before, but appearing nude in front of him now filled her with excitement and a feverish rush of anticipation.

  John surveyed every inch of her body with his lips. Starting at her breasts, he kissed and gently pulled her nipples between his teeth. Jo arched her back and bit her lip.

  His tongue ran around her areola, over her nipple and around her breast. He kissed her stomach gently.

  A low giggle escaped her mouth. The way his lips lightly touched her skin tickled.

  She could feel his hot breath on her lower stomach as he moved between her legs. He kissed the inside of her thighs. When he ran his tongue over her clit, Jo moaned.

  She lifted her leg over his shoulder. John kissed and explored the most intimate part of her body with his tongue, while Jo writhed on the bed.

  A deep warmth spread throughout her body; chills shot up and down her spine. She closed her eyes and let her body guide her. Her hips moved against him; her fingers found there way to his hair. She pulled it roughly.

  Then, he was above her. Jo spread her legs wide. She was wet and ready for him. His hard cock entered her quickly. He cut through her like a hot knife. His eyes met hers as he entered her again and again.

  His cock was thick, almost too big for her. It hit her g-spot perfectly.

  Jo ran her nails down his back.

  “Faster,” she cried.

  His hard shoulders tensed and flexed as he moved in and out of her. A small drop of sweat ran down his chest and fell on her breasts.

  His thrusts came harder and harder.

  Jo arched her back and cried out.

  John collapsed on top of her. They both breathed heavily, exhausted by the exertion.

  “Nick,” Jo purred.

  John looked up.

  “What?” he said.

  “What?” Jo asked, unaware of what she’d just said.

  “You called me Nick.”

  “Nick?” The name was unfamiliar to her. “I don’t know anyone by that name.”

  “You don’t remember anyone by that name,” he corrected her.

  John rolled off of her and ran his hands through his hair and over his face.

  “Do you know someone named Nick?” Jo asked.

  His answer was interrupted by the sound of a car approaching the house.

  “Shit,” John said. “Get dressed.”

  Jo scrambled to find her clothes. They were still damp with lake water. She shook them out and dressed quickly.

  John fled the room and returned with the duffel bag full of guns. He handed her the shotgun.

  “It’s easiest to use,” he said. “Just point and squeeze the trigger. It’s hard to miss with one of these.”

  “I can’t,” Jo said. “I can’t kill someone.”

  John paused. “You already have.”

  Jo felt her throat close; her stomach swam. “What do you mean?”

  John turned his back to her and headed down the hall.

  “What do you mean?” she yelled after him.

  He didn’t answer. What had she done in her previous life to warrant this response? It wasn’t just the men determined to kill her she found troubling, but John as well. He was holding back the full story from her, and he always had one eye trained on her whereabouts.

  At times he seemed more suspicious of her, than she was of him. Maybe he has a good reason to be suspicious, she thought. According to John, she’d killed before. Jo couldn’t imagine killing someone, unless it was self-defense. Even if she had to choose between her own life and someone else’s, it would still be a difficult decision.

  The sound of a second car approaching the house brought her back to reality. Whoever was coming, they weren’t friendly.

  Jo swallowed hard. She could taste lake water in her mouth. The memory of being submerged in cold water overtook her. She began to shake.

  Jo closed her eyes, took a deep breath and held it. She had to prepare herself for the fight to come. When she opened her eyes John was standing in front of her.

  “Are you ready?” he asked. Jo nodded. “Good, I want you to-”

  The crackle of a loudspeaker cut
off his words. “John, I know you’re in there with her.

  Release her to our care and we’ll let you walk away.”

  “C’mon,” John said to Jo. He grabbed her hand and led her down the stairs to the first floor.

  “Wait! You’re not handing me over!”

  “Of course, not. I just don’t want to be trapped upstairs. Now listen, I want you to do as I say.”

  He led her to a corner of the room and pushed her down to the floor. “Stay here. If anyone comes around this corner, shoot them.”

  John kissed her hard, then turned and left without looking back. Jo looked down at the shotgun. She held it so tightly, her hands shook. She took a deep breath and waited.

  “John, you don’t want to do this,” the voice over the loudspeaker said. “Are you really going to die for this girl? Some traitor?”

  “You want her, come and get her,” John responded.

  Jo saw a shadow pass in front of the window to her right. They were sending men around the back of the house. She hoped John had a plan to get them out of this. The odds didn’t look good. They were completely surrounded.

  “I’ll give you to the count of ten,” the voice said.

  A side door to her right slowly opened.

  “One.”

  A figure tiptoed inside. He hadn’t spotted Jo yet, but it was only a matter of time.

  “Two.”

  She raised the gun. Her finger found the trigger, but she couldn’t make herself squeeze.

  “Three.”

  The man caught sight of her. He lunged at her, pushing her gun away. Then something unexpected happened. Jo’s mind cleared. The cloud of fear and doubt lifted. It was as if a switch had been flipped. Her body reacted viciously. She head-butted the man, then grabbed his arm as he staggered back. She forced him to the ground and pulled hard on his wrist. She felt his shoulder dislocate.

  He began to scream. Jo picked up the shotgun and hit him on the back of the head with it.

  The man fell silent.

  Jo crouched back in the corner, marveling at what she’d done. She’d taken down the man efficiently and expertly. Where had she learned to fight like that? She wondered. She looked down at her hands. They no longer shook.

  She peeked around the corner, looking for John, but he was nowhere in sight. A shot rang out, then another. Had the man reached ten, yet? She wondered absently. She hadn’t been paying attention.